My ~180G capacity Upflow Algae Scrubber - Feedback?

[daverf]

I have a rough start for my UAS along the left side of my 55G sump. Here's what I have:

-2 45W Bloom Boss Enhanced Spectrum LED Grow Lights
-2 Air Pumps - Fusion 600, Fusion 700
-2 ~10" Air Stones with 9"L x12"H Screens on them. (This is 2" higher than the lighting is "rated" for (per Santa Monica site), so I may cut the screens down if I don't see good algae growth. I need to rough them as well.
-Cut up top of a Rubbermaid Roughneck container as a light blocker on the back. I've been yelled at for ruining tupperware, but ruining a storage bin is crossing into new territory. Maybe she'll punch me in the face.

So this is all pretty jerry rigged, but I have the rough idea running. It will be very quirky to change the screens, but I'm sure I'll modify the setup as I go.
I will add a mirror, possibly cut a glass mirror (from Target) to size and wrap in a ziploc moving bag before putting in the water.

I also figured out (per Kalgra) that I probably spent a lot more on lighting than I would have if I took time to DIY lighting, and also could have got higher watts per sq in. Oh well, I had already ordered these and am tired of screwing around with this flimsy setup already, so I'll probably just live with them.

I'm not expecting growth to start as would be typical. My tank is at a 1.009 salinity for Ich, so I'm not sure how well marine microalgae will like this. That said, I do have very high nitrates after some live rock die off from the salinity drop, so it will be interesting to see what happens.

So let me know any feedback, good or bad, and also here is a question I have: Help on airstones, please? Are not all airstones created equal, or do they just take time to "break in" and start blowing bubbles across the strip? These don't look like they are getting any bubbles to some parts of the screen. Bubble wall seems pretty unimpressive.

Also feel free to laugh and tell me what a DIY loser I am.

See DIY pics, first showing the final rough start...second showing what I set up before putting the lights in place...oh and duh, just realized I need to get the backing in place (it's crooked right now).

 

[Cake_Boss]

Bahahahaha, DIY LOSER!

J/K, can you take pics of the problem areas? I'm not certain, but I thought there was a method to using the airstones, turning on then inserting into the water or vice versa (maybe I'm celebrating 64 a little early?). I don't see how your setup won't work. Keep us updated.

 

[daverf]

RP, thanks for the response. LOL, I should submit this for the DIY Idiot of the Year award. thanks for the airstone tip, I'll research on that. I'll also try to get a few/better pics up. I also realized that these models of air pumps have 2 separate outlets which are 2 separate internal pumps, and the output is TOTAL not per pump. So I ordered some Y connectors to use with them. Maybe that will help with the wimpy bubble wall issue I see. I'll keep you posted...

 

[SantaMonicaHelp]

If the air stone doesn't work, try to use sliced airline. It usually offers large rapid flowing bubbles.

 

[Ghosty]

One thing I've always done is let the (dry) airstone soak for a few mins before turning on. If it isn't releasing a good wide spead of bubbles, usually it was because I was using too small an airpump for the bigger airstones.

 

[daverf]

Kaia...Ghosty...thank you.

I'm looking for examples of sliced airline that worked, seems the bubbles typically just all jump out at the beginning of the cut?

I do see the airstones work slightly better now, after running for a while. And it makes sense on airpump strength, soon I will double strength for both when I add Y connectors. We'll see if this gets better. Or I wonder if something like this would work better:

http://www.amazon.com/Jardin-Aquari...&qid=1355166946&sr=1-12&keywords=air+diffuser

 

[Walter White]

I didn't have any luck with the sliced air line either. I'm using the same thing you have linked here with several pin holes punched along the length of the foam tube. So far this seems to be working the best.

 

[daverf]

Great to know Kalgra. I'll switch.

I did add Y connectors to my pump/airlines and have achieved the full LPM output for my setup. Now there are very big bubble walls, but still the airstone limitation.

I also added laminated white pieces of paper, to get some reflector effect going.

 

[Cake_Boss]

How's the laminated paper holding up? What's your LPM to screen width ratio? Santa Monica only says to experiment after his chart on the scrubber site.

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[daverf]

Laminated paper seems to be fine, I made sure there was a full seal around the paper (which meant Office Depot had to relaminate each piece about 3 times).

Combined LPM for 2 pumps is 10.2 LPM, and total width for screens is 18". I roughly tried to follow the recommendations on the site, but also decided not to go any bigger for cost. The Fusions pumps are good bang for buck, it can get pretty expensive going higher.

 

[daverf]

No good growth yet, although I didn't really get it on line until I figured out that the light timer was being bypassed (so yes, I can confirm, 24 hour lighting will cause algae not to grow ).

Bubble algae looks to be starting a big intro in the tank, so I know hyposalinity won't hamper growth. I will score/rough the screens tomorrow, that may be an issue. Or I wonder if the lighting is too close/intense? I do see growth on the inner scrubber areas and air stones, just not the screen right in front of the lights. Lights are probably 3/4" away from the screens.

 

[Walter White]

Give it some time and yes if you didnt rough the screens that will slow it way down. Mine took about 10 days to start showing signs of growth. Once the algae gets seeded on there and you got everything dialed in you should see some good results. Are you running gfo as well? That will slow it down too.

 

[Cake_Boss]

Re: My ~180G capacity Upflow Algae Scrubber - Feedback?

One thing I discovered by accident is Delrin reflected the light (some background; a while ago I acquired some thin Delrin sheets to block the light from my tank, as it was right by a window.) A short series of events later, I noticed the Delrin reflected the light. Some internet research led to the fact that Delrin doesn't leach chemicals, unless it's dissolved in acid. Since we won't be doing that, you can cut the sheet so that it acts as a background. It's opaque too. I bought mine from Colorado Plastics on their remnant sale, kinda pricey though.

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[Walter White]

Jamie what is on your head?

 

[Cake_Boss]

Re: My ~180G capacity Upflow Algae Scrubber - Feedback?

A hat similar to this one...

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[daverf]

RP that's a money find, thanks!

I can confirm that roughing is necessary. At this point I see algae (or cyano, which I'm battling) growing on the airstones and DIY rubbermaid screen covers/light blockers only (it has a rough surface) but not the non-roughed screens. So no good results to share yet as I'm still going through trial and error (airflow may be too much, hyposalinity level in tank may be slowing things down, etc)...need to tweak and start over a bit...

how did you get the hat so much bigger? a grow light of some sort, i'm assuming.

 

[daverf]

Can I get suggestions?

Diagnosing a cyano outbreak in the tank lead to my realizing that I have 1ppm Phosphates. No idea where that came from, as my rock came straight from Fiji, sand was new, PO4 tested 0ppm after tank cycled, and source has never had it as far as I'm aware...anyway I'm battling that in the display with the usual tools...more flow, changing out all source filters (RO/DI etc), less lighting and siphoning.

So my question is, should I run something in the tank to reduce phosphates or see if the scrubber drops from this high level? The cyano is continuing to grow, but much slower. If I drop phosphates I will probably use lanthanum chloride and not GFO.

Secondary question (maybe for Kaia) is, do UAS users report general phosphate reduction levels and/or do you have rough guidelines on how much phosphate control is seen?

 

[daverf]

I'd like to thank everyone for the insane volume of responses. It took me all day to read through these suggestions. Haha. Well anyway I decided to ride out high phosphates and see how well the scrubber kicks 'em.

Here's what I've decided to do about the mirror issue, which will otherwise improve the laughable pile of plastic in my sump...

Build the light blocking box to custom spec my LEDs with black acrylic sheets. Put a piece of aluminum foil on the inside back, covered by a sheet of clear acrylic, welding clear and black pieces together on edges with solvent. This will encapsulate the sheet of aluminum foil in acrylic. Everything's on order so this will go online next week, in the meantime my DIY POS (otherwise known as the UAS Gremlin) is chugging along.

Today is day 1 of fully being online and following "the rules" (lighting, circulation, air etc). However, there was very slight growth before from my tweaking, therefore I'm guessing I have a jumpstart as spores were likely seeded in the airstones. That said, not bad for day 1, eh?

[attachment=63280:name]

 

[Cake_Boss]

Re: My ~180G capacity Upflow Algae Scrubber - Feedback?

Dave, I have no idea of the answers to any of those questions. Why not just run the scrubber and see?

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[daverf]

i know homes, it's all good, just ignore me. making myself chuckle, that's all. since cyano outbreak is new for me, i just didn't know if i should let the phosphates issue go without urgent action. but i'm glad i'm doing exactly what you suggest (run it and see), as i think the scrubber will kick in full gear with my high phosphates. i'll post more pics later this week.